Shall We Dance? (1996) Shall we dansu? (original title)

Director:

Masayuki Suo

Writer:

Masayuki Suo

Release Date:

11 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

He's an overworked accountant. She's an accomplished dancer. Passion is about to find two unlikely partners.

Plot:

A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Train | Man With Glasses | Dance Contest | Dance Hall

Awards:

54 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kôji Yakusho	...	Shohei Sugiyama
Tamiyo Kusakari	...	Mai Kishikawa
Naoto Takenaka	...	Tomio Aoki
Eri Watanabe	...	Toyoko Takahashi (as Eriko Watanabe)
Yu Tokui	...	Tokichi Hattori
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Masahiro Tanaka
Reiko Kusamura	...	Tamako Tamura
Hideko Hara	...	Masako Sugiyama
Hiroshi Miyasaka	...	Macho
Kunihiko Ida	...	Teiji Kaneko
Amie Toujou	...	Hisako Honda
Ayano Nakamura	...	Chikage Sugiyama
Katsunari Mineno	...	Keiri-kachô
Tomiko Ishii	...	Haruko Haraguchi
Maki Kawamura	...	Eiko Miyoshi
Takako Matsuzaka	...	Fusako Fukube
Kôichi Ueda	...	Torakichi Kumada
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akira Emoto	...	Tôru Miwa
Nanea Hoffman	...	Tomodachi
Robert Hoffman	...	Tomodachi
Hirotarô Honda	...	Sayônara-Pâtî no Emu-Shî
Yudai Ishiyama	...	Giruba no Hama (Hama the Jitterbug)
Maiko Itô
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Keiko Kishikawa
Goro Kataoka	...	Burusu no Jô
Angelique Midthunder	...	Dansâ (as Angelique Roehm)
Shûichirô Moriyama	...	Ryo Kishikawa
Masahiro Motoki	...	Hiromasa Kimoto
Ren Ohsugi	...	Sugiuwa, the Floor Manager
Angélique Roehm	...	Dansâ
Misa Shimizu	...	Natsuko
Hideo Tanaka	...	Tokihiko Okada
Yôko Tanaka	...	Yôko Kishikawa
Paradise Yamamoto	...	Band Leader

Directed by
Masayuki Suo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Masayuki Suo

Produced by
Yoichi Arishige	....	associate producer
Kazuhiro Igarashi	....	producer
Tetsuya Ikeda	....	chief producer
Hiroyuki Kato	....	producer
Shôji Masui	....	producer
Shigeo Minakami	....	assistant producer
Yuji Ogata	....	producer
Shigeru Ohno	....	producer
Yasuyoshi Tokuma	....	executive producer
Yasuharu Urushido	....	producer

Original Music by
Yoshikazu Suo

Cinematography by
Naoki Kayano

Film Editing by
Jun'ichi Kikuchi

Casting by
Tetsu Maeda

Production Design by
Kyôko Heya

Set Decoration by
Yoshihito Akatsuka

Makeup Department
Mikiko Hayama	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Yoshino Sasaki	....	production manager
Masamitsu Washizu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hideaki Satô	....	assistant director
Gen Yamakawa	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kiyoshi Yoneyama	....	sound editor
Kiyoshi Yoneyama	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Tatsuya Osada	....	lighting director

Editorial Department
Bruce Kitzmeyer	....	conforming editor

Other crew
Christopher Gambale	....	assistant to harvey weinstein
Howard Smith	....	operator: remote head
Toshihisa Watai	....	production coordinator
Toshio Watari	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Altamira Pictures Inc.
• Daiei Studios (as Daiei Kabushiki-Gaisha)
• Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) (as Nippon Telebi-housou Kabushiki-Gaisha)
• Hakuhodo (as Kabushiki-Gaisha Hakuhodo)
• Nihon Shuppan Hanbai (as Nihon Shuppan Hanbai Kabushiki-Gaisha)

Distributors

• Toho Company (1996) (Japan) (theatrical) (as Toho)
• Kadokawa Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (DVD)
• Buena Vista International (Sweden) (1998) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International Finland (1998) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International Spain (1998) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (1999) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• EDKO Film (199?) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Filmes Lusomundo (1998) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Miramax Films (1997) (USA) (theatrical) (cut version)
• RCV Film Distribution (199?) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (199?) (Luxembourg) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (1998) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1999) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) (2001) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Abril Vídeo (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Gativideo (199?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD) (cut version)
• New Films International (1997) (USA) (all media) (cut version)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Home Video (1999) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Aaku Hikkoshi Center  filming cooperation
• Amano Dance Academy  filming cooperation
• Blackpool Tourist Board  special thanks: UK
• Daihatsu Motor  filming cooperation
• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production
• Elleseine  filming cooperation
• First Leisure Coropration  special thanks: UK
• Japan Ballroom Dance Federation  location cooperation
• Keio Plaza Hotel  filming cooperation
• PMC Pictures  special thanks: UK
• Planete Clair'e  special thanks: UK
• Rogers  filming cooperation
• Shoikudo Shoten  filming cooperation
• Shoikudo  filming cooperation
• Todoroki Arena  filming cooperation
• Toei Dance Hall  filming cooperation
• Tsurukawa Sanatorium Hospital  filming cooperation

Also Known As:

"Shall we dansu?" - Japan (original title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language

Runtime:

136 min | 119 min (cut version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Japan:U | Iceland:L | Italy:T | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. (bw) | New Zealand:PG | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK

Company:

Altamira Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

In the first scene, a man's shoe in close-up plunges into a black pool in the street. This symbolizes the world renowned Ballroom Dancing Competition in Blackpool, England, referenced later in the film.

Quotes:

Shohei Sugiyama:At my age, it's embarrassing to say so, but every day I feel so alive.

Movie Connections:

Features The Public Eye (1972)

Soundtrack:

Shall We Dance

A subtle and intricate film

I don't like "grade inflation" but I just had to give this a 10. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it. I saw it last night and woke up today thinking about it. I'm sure that the Hollywood remake that someone told me about, with J Lo and Richard Gear, will be excellent, but this original Japanese version from 1996 was so emotional and thought-provoking for me that I am hard-pressed to think of any way that it could be improved, or its setting changed to a different culture.

A story I found worth watching, and with o fist-fight scenes or guns going off or anything of the sort! Imagine that!

All the characters seemed well-developed, ... even non-primary characters had good character-development and enjoyable acting, and the casting seemed very appropriate.

It's always hard to find a good movie-musical in our day and age, and perhaps this doesn't quite qualify (there is plenty of learning how to dance, but no singing) but I really think that Gene Kelly and others who championed a place for dance in our lives would have thought so very highly of this film and the role of dance in helping to tell a story about a middle aged man, successful with a family in Japan, looking for something... he knows not precisely what.

To the team of people in Japan who contributed to this film, thank you for creating and doing it.